My husband has been sharing the Few Good Men Santa Parody to anyone who will watch it with him, which had me thinking about Santa and believing in magic.
I was one of those kids that believed in Santa Claus well into middle school. I didn’t shout from the rooftops, but instead, kept my it quietly to myself. If kids talked in the lunchroom or on the bus around not believing, I would stay silent. No need to argue with them, I thought. They were just misinformed.
I was in awe with the mystery of Santa and his inhuman ability to travel across the world at lightning speed in one single day and witness (and judge) the behavior of children without knowing them.
Because the story of Santa was told by my elders, in TV shows, and in well-known books, I had a hard time believing they were not telling me the truth. A young and naive part of me didn't want to acknowledge their deception, well-meaning or not.
Despite evidence to the contrary, I loved believing in the merry and joyful spirit of Santa. Because of that, I held onto the belief that I wanted to believe for much longer than my peers did.
I also used to believe in diets and the need to lose weight. I lost weight on Weight Watchers in my early thirties and shared with friends and family how I did it. I stepped on a scale weekly, carefully monitoring my progress toward my goal. I read Shape magazine and religiously followed their advice. I bought countless diet books that I wouldn’t have called diet books. I called them ways to get lean and healthy.
For decades, I believed that I would be happier and healthier if I was thinner. I believed in the magic of weight loss.
Yet, there was evidence that the magic of weight loss didn't exist. When I was dieting and restricting, I was obsessed with what I weighed. My mind was always on food. I was always questioning myself and wondered if I could be eating better and exercising harder. I was always seeking, determined to find someone who could tell me how I could get thin. All of this was freakin' exhausting. Was this health? Was this happiness? If so, how come the sacrifices were so great?
When I started doubting the magic of weight loss, I had to question many well educated and authoritative experts that claimed to know so much about nutrition, health, transformation, and weight loss. I had to acknowledge their deception, purposeful or not.
This path of health, weight loss and food is so conflicting and confusing, isn't it { } ? How are you coping and navigating it?
When I was believing in the magic of weight loss, I was really believing in the spirit of our highest health and well-being.
I knew that the magic of weight loss doesn't exist when I realized that our vitality can't be measured in terms of pounds or dress size. It has to be felt in our hearts and bodies.
We know that the magic of Christmas doesn't come in packages, red suits or just arrives on December 25th. The magic of Christmas lives within us. Just like our highest health and well-being does.